There are many advantages to ready-to-assemble furniture. Furniture is manufactured all over the world and must be shipped to destinations throughout the world. Shipping costs are significant and manufacturers of furniture continue to try to reduce shipping costs. One way of reducing shipping costs is to design furniture such that it can be shipped disassembled. In these cases, the furniture is assembled by the consumer, a distributor, a retailer or other third party located in the destination country. The reason, of course, that disassembled furniture is more economical to ship is that greater quantities of the furniture can be placed in a shipping container.
Designing and manufacturing ready-to-assemble furniture, however, is challenging. First, it is important that the designs still retain a high level of esthetic appeal. Also, it is important that ready-to-assemble furniture be designed such that assembly is relatively easy. Also, it is important that, once assembled, the article of furniture be strong and sturdy. Both the ease of assembly and the strength and sturdiness of the article of furniture depend in significant part on the design of the fasteners used. In many ready-to-assemble furniture pieces, the fasteners used to connect components together are difficult to use and in some cases prone to become frail over time.